Tu-160(according to NATO codification: Blackjack) - Russian, formerly Soviet, supersonic strategic missile-carrying bomber with variable wing sweep. Developed by the Tupolev Design Bureau in the 1980s, in service since 1987. The Russian Air Force currently operates 16 Tu-160 aircraft.
Specifications
Crew: 4 people
Length: 54.1 m
Wingspan: 55.7/50.7/35.6 m
Height: 13.1 m
Wing area: 232 m²
Empty weight: 110000 kg
Normal take-off weight: 267600 kg
Maximum take-off weight: 275000 kg
Engines: 4 × NK-32 turbofan engines
Maximum thrust: 4 × 18000 kgf
Afterburner thrust: 4 × 25000 kgf
Flight characteristics
Maximum speed at altitude: 2230 km/h 
Cruising speed: 917 km/h (0.77 M)
Practical range: 14600 km
Combat radius: 6000 km
Flight duration: 25 h
Practical ceiling: 15000 m
Rate of climb: 4400 m/min
Run/run length: 900-2000 m
1185 kg/m²
1150 kg/m²
Thrust-to-weight ratio:
at maximum take-off weight: 0,37
at normal take-off weight: 0,36
Armament
Two intra-fuselage compartments can accommodate up to 40 tons of weapons, including several types of guided missiles, guided and free-fall bombs and other weapons of destruction, both nuclear and conventional.
The Kh-55 strategic cruise missiles in service with the Tu-160 (12 units on two multi-position revolver-type launchers) are designed to hit stationary targets with predetermined coordinates, which are entered into the missile’s memory before the bomber takes off. Anti-ship missile variants have a radar homing system.
To hit targets at shorter ranges, the weapons may include Kh-15 aeroballistic hypersonic missiles (24 units on four launchers).
The bomb armament of the Tu-160 is considered as a “second-stage” weapon, intended to destroy targets that remained after the first missile strike of the bomber. It is also located in weapons bays and can include adjustable bombs of various types, including one of the most powerful domestic ammunition of this class - bombs of the KAB-1500 series weighing 1500 kg
The aircraft can also be equipped with free-falling bombs (up to 40,000 kg) of various calibers, including nuclear ones, disposable cluster bombs, sea mines and other weapons.
In the future, the bomber's armament is planned to be significantly strengthened due to the introduction of high-precision cruise missiles of the new generation X-555 and X-101, which have an increased range and are designed to destroy both strategic and tactical ground and sea targets of almost all classes.
In 1980 The first copy of the new bomber, called the Tu-160, was built.
The Tu-160 is the largest of all bombers previously created both in the USSR and abroad. The aircraft is made using an integrated circuit with smooth coupling of the wing and fuselage. The variable geometry wing provides flight in various profiles, maintaining high performance at both supersonic and subsonic speeds. The bomber has an all-moving vertical and horizontal tail, which, combined with the integral layout and low position of the crew, significantly reduces the ESR. A special feature of the airframe design is a titanium beam, which is an all-welded caisson with wing rotation units. All the main power elements of the airframe are attached to a beam that runs through the entire aircraft. The bomber is equipped with a hose-cone air refueling system. In the non-working position, the fuel receiving rod is retracted into the forward part of the fuselage in front of the cockpit.
Equipment. The Tu-160 aircraft is equipped with the most modern flight, navigation and radio equipment, including a weapons control system specially developed for it. The equipment provides automatic flight and combat use of the entire range of weapons. It includes a number of systems and sensors that allow you to hit ground targets regardless of the time of day, region and weather conditions. Along with many indicators of the electromechanical type, electronic indicators in the form of a display are widely used.
The Tu-160 is equipped with a duplicated inertial navigation system, a celestial navigation system, satellite navigation equipment, a multi-channel digital communications complex and a developed electronic warfare system, which ensures the detection of enemy radar stations in a wide range and the production of powerful active and passive jamming.
There are a large number of electronic computing and digital devices on board the aircraft. The total number of digital processors, autonomous and in a network structure, ensuring the operation of systems and equipment, exceeds 100 units. Each crew workplace is equipped with specialized on-board digital computers.
The Obzor-K sighting and navigation system (PrNK) is designed to detect and identify land and sea targets at great distances, control means of their destruction, as well as solve navigation and aircraft navigation problems. The basis of the PrNK is a multifunctional navigation and targeting radar located in the nose of the aircraft. There is also an OPB-15T optoelectronic bomber sight, which provides bombing with high accuracy in daytime conditions and in low light levels. In the future, it is possible to equip the aircraft with a laser system for illuminating ground targets, allowing the use of adjustable aerial bombs of various types from high altitudes.
The Baikal airborne defense system (ADS) allows you to detect enemy air defense systems, detect their position, jam them with interference, or place a curtain of decoys behind the aircraft. The tail cone contains numerous containers with IR traps and dipole reflectors. An Ogonyok heat direction finder is installed in the extreme rear part of the fuselage, which detects enemy missiles and aircraft approaching from the rear hemisphere. The pilots' instrument panels are equipped with standard electromechanical devices, similar to those used on other combat aircraft (for example, on the Tu-22M). The cabin is simplified as much as possible, but at the same time maximum comfort is provided for the crew performing long flights.
Control system. The control system is a complex of mechanical, hydromechanical, electrohydraulic, electromechanical, electronic and electrical equipment. The Tu-160 became the first Soviet serial heavy aircraft using a multiple redundant analog fly-by-wire control system (EDCS). The EMDS has four channels that duplicate each other and emergency mechanical wiring, which ensures high reliability of aircraft control in all flight modes. The aircraft can be controlled in both automatic and manual modes. Control via pitch, roll and yaw channels provides optimal stability and controllability characteristics in all flight modes. Backup control is provided by a mechanical system with limited functions.
The aircraft control system consists of control subsystems for the rudders, wing mechanization, and the onboard control system. The aircraft is controlled not using the steering wheel traditional for heavy bombers, but using a “fighter” type control stick. The rudder control system provides deflection of the stabilizer, rotating part of the keel, flaperons and spoilers at all stages of flight in helm control, semi-automatic and automatic control modes when working together with the ABSU (automatic on-board control system). ABSU controls the control surfaces by processing information received from the handles and pedals of the crew control stations, its own sensors, sensors and computers of other on-board systems.
Power supply system. The Tu-160 aircraft is equipped with four integrated alternating current drive-generators, four contactless direct current generators, control, protection and power distribution systems. An alternator mounted on the auxiliary power unit is provided as an auxiliary source. Batteries are used as emergency power sources.
On January 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Kazan Aviation Plant named after. S.P. Gorbunov (a branch of Tupolev PJSC, part of the United Aircraft Corporation, UAC), where he observed the demonstration flight of the modernized Tu-160 strategic bomber. This new missile carrier with serial number 0804 was named after the first commander-in-chief of the Russian Air Force, Pyotr Deinekin.
Test flights of the aircraft began last week. The rolling out ceremony of the first prototype took place on November 16, 2017. It is expected that by the end of this year the missile carrier will be transferred to the Aerospace Forces (VKS) of the Russian Federation. The volume of the contract for the supply of ten modernized Tu-160M missile carriers to the Russian Ministry of Defense will amount to 160 billion rubles. According to the president, this will allow the enterprise to be fully loaded by 2027. The head of state called the work done to create the aircraft “a great success for the plant’s team.”
The story of the "swan"
The supersonic Tu-160M2 (according to NATO codification - Blackjack) is an improved version of the Tu-160 developed in the USSR. Among the pilots he received the nickname "White Swan". Along with the Tu-95MS, it forms the basis of the modern fleet of Long-Range Aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces. The Tu-160 is the largest supersonic aircraft in the history of military aviation, the heaviest combat aircraft in the world, capable of carrying cruise missiles with nuclear warheads.
It was created in response to the introduction of the Rockwell B-1 Lancer intercontinental bomber into the United States. The need to create a new aircraft was also explained by the fact that at the end of the 1960s, strategic aviation only had outdated subsonic bombers - Tu-95 and M-4.
Compared to its American rival, the Tu-160 received a fly-by-wire control system, a rudder in the form of an all-moving upper part of the fin, and a rotating “ridge” that improves flow around the articulation area of the moving and fixed parts of the wing. The central beam of this aircraft, 12.4 m long and 2.1 m wide, which is the main structural element of the structure, is made of titanium using a unique technology. The maximum flight range is almost 14 thousand km. By the way, in 1985, during tests on the Tu-160, the speed of sound was exceeded for the first time.
From 1981 to 1992, 36 such aircraft were built, although initially it was planned to make 100. The first 19 copies of the bomber were transferred to the bomber air regiment in the city of Priluki, Ukrainian SSR, from 1987. Therefore, after the collapse of the USSR, the Russian Federation did not have a single new strategic bomber. In 1992–1994, six aircraft were built and transferred to the bomber air regiment in Engels. In 1999–2000, Russia received from Ukraine 11 strategic bombers (eight Tu-160 and three Tu-95MS), as well as about 600 air-launched missiles in settlement of Ukrainian debts for Russian gas. The ten aircraft remaining in Priluki were disposed of at the insistence of the United States, and another was transferred to a museum in Poltava. Today, the Russian Aerospace Forces have 16 units in combat.
Cost of "White Swan"
Expert estimates of the cost range from $250-600 million (in 1993, the media called 6 billion rubles, which corresponded to approximately $600 million). One hour of flight of a missile carrier (without combat use) costs, according to official data for 2008, 580 thousand rubles (about $23.3 thousand). For comparison: the cost of the American B-1B bomber, which is close to the Tu-160 in terms of flight performance, is $317 million; an hour of flight costs $57.8 thousand.
Continuation
The decision to resume production of bombers in a modernized version was made in 2015. The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that their serial production should begin in 2023. In June 2017, Viktor Bondarev, who then held the post of commander-in-chief of the Aerospace Forces, stated that the Tu-160M2 could take off for the first time at the end of 2018. PJSC Tupolev began work on the creation of deeply modernized aircraft.
Swan update
Despite the external similarity with the previous version, the Tu-160M2 is distinguished by the latest combat support systems, as well as the latest versions of the NK-32 bypass turbojet engine (produced at the Samara PJSC Kuznetsov).
According to a TASS source in the military-industrial complex (DIC), the new aircraft is not a prototype of a modernized version of the bomber.
The aircraft underwent only minor modernization; the airframe and engines remained the same. Fully digitized documentation on the new missile carrier will be released no earlier than the middle of this year, and without it, work on the construction of the Tu-160M is impossible
source in the defense industry
Thanks to modernization, efficiency will increase by 60%. According to Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Yuri Borisov, the Tu-160M2 will be a practically new aircraft, two and a half times more efficient than its predecessor. The appearance of the updated "White Swan" is as recognizable as that of its "elder brother", created in Soviet times.
The Ministry of Defense plans to restore production of the Tu-160 strategic bomber. We are not talking about a one-to-one restoration, because the Tu-160, which we have in service today, is an aircraft developed in the 80s, which, fortunately, has surpassed its time in its performance characteristics. It has the best characteristics today. The aircraft we are talking about will probably be called Tu-160M2 and will be practically a new aircraft
Yuri Borisov
Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation
According to the commander of the Long-Range Aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces, Lieutenant General Sergei Kobylash, the introduction of new digital technologies will “significantly increase the combat capabilities of the strike complex using long-range precision weapons.”
Economical engines with wider resource capabilities will increase the flight range, which, together with the declared power-to-weight ratio, will maintain the Tu-160 strategic missile carrier's leading position among strategic strike systems
Sergey Kobylash
Commander of Long-Range Aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces, Lieutenant General
Due to the modernization of a number of engine components of the NK-32 series 02, the aircraft has become more economical. “It has wider resource capabilities. Thanks to this engine, the Tu-160M2 bomber, the production of which is planned to be launched in Russia, will receive expanded capabilities, including an increased flight range,” noted the United Engine Corporation (UEC). UEC stated that the test bench for new engines has been reconstructed and certified to work with NK-32 power plants.
This engine has been modernized: the main blocks and components have become more economical, the engine as a whole has better resource capabilities, and due to work that has improved its economic performance, the aircraft’s flight range will be at least a thousand kilometers longer compared to the existing one
Victor Bondarev
ex-commander-in-chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces, Colonel General
As the press service of the Kazan Aviation Plant explains, the model was built on the basis of the technological reserve available at the enterprise. “It was completed, among other things, to solve the problems of reproducing the Tu-160 in a new look: restoring the final assembly technology, testing certain new technological solutions, testing new aircraft engines with improved characteristics,” notes the plant’s press service.
Possibilities of the "swan"
Suppliers of components for the new aircraft did not stand aside either. During the modernization of the Tu-160, the Radio-Electronic Technologies Concern (KRET) is creating new computer and on-board systems, control equipment, a strapdown inertial navigation system, an electronic warfare complex, fuel and flow metering systems, as well as weapons control systems. The board of the new Tu-160M2 will be made with elements of integrated modular avionics, which will later be used for the PAK DA. The development of avionics (avionics) for the Tu-160M2 was promised to be completed by 2020.
Work on the creation of the aircraft TU-160 "White Swan"" - a missile-carrying supersonic long-range bomber began in 1968 at the A.N. Tupolev Design Bureau. And in 1972, a preliminary design of such an aircraft with a wing of variable geometry was made. In 1976, the project of the Tu-160 model was approved by the commission. Engine type NK- 32 was developed specifically for this aircraft model by the Kuznetsov Design Bureau in 1977.
Tu-160 Photo
According to NATO classification, these strategic bombers are called “Black Jack”, and in American slang they are called “bludgeon” (Black Jack - to beat with a baton). But our pilots called them “White Swans” - and this is very similar to the truth. Supersonic Tu-160s are beautiful and graceful, even with formidable weapons and amazing power. The weapons chosen for them were Kh-55 - subsonic small-sized cruise missiles and Kh-15 - aeroballistic missiles, which were placed on multi-position installations under the wings.
The Tu-160 prototype was approved at the end of 1977, and the experimental production enterprise MMZ “Opyt” (in Moscow) began assembling three prototype aircraft. Kazan production manufactured the fuselages, the wing and stabilizer were made in Novosibirsk, the cargo compartment doors were made in Voronezh, and the landing gear supports were made in the city of Gorky. The assembly of the first machine “70-01” was completed in January 1981 in Zhukovsky.
The Tu-160 with serial "70-01" was first tested in the air in 1981 on December 18. During state tests, which ended in mid-1989, the Tu-160 aircraft fired four Kh-55 cruise missiles as the main armament of the aircraft. The maximum speed of the aircraft during horizontal flight was 2200 km/h. This speed for operation was limited to 2000 km/h - this was introduced due to the condition of the resource limit. Many Tu-160s were given personal names, like warships. The first Tu-160 was named “Ilya Muromets”.
Tu-160 crew: 4 people.
Engines: (turbine) four NK - 32 TRDDF 4x14,000/25,000 kgf (thrust: working / afterburner).
The unit is three-shaft, dual-circuit, with an afterburner. It is started by an air starter.
Behind the left support of the main landing gear is the APU - an electrical engine control system with hydromechanical duplication
Weight and loads: normal take-off - 267,600 kg, empty aircraft - 110,000 kg, maximum combat - 40,000 kg, fuel - 148,000 kg.
Flight data: 2000 km/h - flight speed at altitude, 1030 km/h - flight near the ground, from 260 to 300 km/h - landing speed, 16000 m - flight ceiling, 13200 km - practical range, 10500 km - duration flight at maximum load.
Salon
Tu-160 is one of the USSR combat aircraft, which the press learned about before its construction, several years ago. In 1981, on November 25, the aircraft was prepared for testing in the town of Zhukovsky (Ramensky) near Moscow. The car was parked alongside two Tu-144s and was photographed by a passenger from a plane landing at the nearby Bykovo airfield. From that moment on, the bomber received its nickname “Ram-P” (Ram - from Ramenskoye) and the NATO code - “Black Jack”. With this name, the heaviest bomb carrier of all time was introduced to the world.
At the negotiations on SALT-2 in the 70s of the last century, L.I. Brezhnev said that, in contrast to the American B-1, a new strategic bomber was being designed in the USSR. The press mentioned that it would be produced at a plant in Kazan. What about today?
During the collapse of the USSR, Tu-160s were distributed among the republics. 19 of them went to Ukraine, the air regiment in Priluki. Eight were transferred to pay off gas debts to Russia, and the rest were simply cut up. In Poltava you can visit the last Ukrainian “swan”, turned into a museum.
Tu-160V (Tu-161) is a missile carrier project that includes a power plant that runs on liquid hydrogen. Taking into account the peculiarities of the fuel system, it differs from the basic version in the dimensions of the fuselage. Liquefied hydrogen, which was used in engine units as fuel, was reserved at temperatures down to -253 °C. It is additionally equipped with a helium system, which is responsible for controlling cryogenic engines, and a nitrogen system, which controls the vacuum in the thermal insulation cavities of the aircraft.
Tu-160 NK-74 is a modification of the Tu-160, which contains more economical bypass turbojet engines with an NK-74 afterburner. These power plants were assembled to order in Samara at SNTK im. N.D. Kuznetsova. The use of these aircraft engines made it possible to increase the flight range parameter.
Tu-160P is a modification that is a heavy long-range escort fighter that could carry medium- and long-range air-to-air missiles on board.
Tu-160PP is an electronic warfare aircraft project. At the moment, there is only a full-size model; the characteristics of the new aircraft and the composition of the equipment have been determined.
Tu-160K is a project of an aircraft that is part of the Krechet aviation and missile complex. Brought to the stage of a finished preliminary design at the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau. The chief designer was V.F. Utkin. Work on the ARK "Krechet" was carried out in 1983-1984. in order to increase the efficiency and survivability of ballistic missiles during a nuclear explosion and to test the energy functionality of the carrier aircraft. Armed with the Krechet-R missile.
This is a two-stage small-sized ICBM of the 4th generation. It was equipped with sustainer solid fuel engines running on mixed fuel. In flight mode, liquid monopropellant was used. The carrying capacity of the Tu-160K carrier aircraft was 50 tons. This meant that the modification could carry on board two Krechet-R ICBMs weighing 24.4 tons each. Taking into account the flight range of the Tu-160K aircraft, its effective use was at a distance of up to 10 thousand km.
At the project stage, the development of ground equipment for coordinating the actions of the aircraft was completed in December 1984.
The Krechet-R missile control system is autonomous, inertial, and connected to external information sources. The coordinates and speed of the rocket were received on board the aircraft from a satellite, and the position angles of the command instruments were specified from the astrocorrector. The first stage of controls is aerodynamic rudders, the second is a rotary control nozzle. The ICBMs were planned to be equipped with separating warheads with individual guidance and warheads, which were intended to break through enemy missile defense. Work on the ARK "Krechet" was curtailed in the mid-80s of the twentieth century.
Tu-160SK is an aircraft that was intended to carry a three-stage Burlak liquid system, the mass of which was 20 tons. According to the designers’ calculations, up to 600-1100 kg of cargo could be launched into orbit, and delivery would cost 2-2.5 times cheaper , rather than using launch vehicles with a similar payload capacity. The missile launch from the Tu-160SK should take place at altitudes of 9000-14,000 m at an aircraft speed of 850 to 1600 km/h. The characteristics of the Burlak complex were supposed to be superior to the American analogue of the subsonic launch complex, the carrier of which was the Boeing B-52, equipped with a Pegasus launch vehicle. The purpose of "Burlak" is a constellation of satellites in the event of mass destruction of airfields. Development of the complex began in 1991, commissioning was planned in 1998-2000. The complex also had to include a ground service station and a command and measurement point. The flight range of the Tu-160KS to the launch site of the launch vehicle was 5000 km. 01/19/2000 between the aerospace corporation “Air Launch” and “TsSKB-Progress” in Samara, regulatory documents were signed on cooperation in the direction of creating the “Air Launch” aerospace complex.
Once upon a time, the famous aircraft designer Andrei Nikolaevich Tupolev said that only beautiful planes fly well. The Tu-160 strategic supersonic bomber was created as if specifically to confirm these winged words. Almost immediately, this aircraft received the nickname “White Swan” among pilots, which soon became almost the official name of this unique aircraft.
The Tu-160 “White Swan” (Blackjack according to NATO codification) was created at the turn of the 70-80s of the last century, at the height of the Cold War. This is a strategic supersonic missile carrier with variable wing geometry, capable of overcoming air defense lines at ultra-low altitudes. The creation of these aircraft was a response to the American AMSA program, within the framework of which the no less famous “strategist” B-1 Lancer was built. And, it should be noted that the answer from the Soviet designers was simply wonderful. The speed of the Tu-160 is one and a half times higher than that of its American counterpart, and its flight range and combat radius are approximately the same number of times greater.
The White Swan took off on its first flight on December 18, 1981; the vehicle was put into service in 1987. A total of 35 Tu-160s were produced during serial production, because these aircraft are not very cheap. The cost of one bomber in 1993 prices was 250 million US dollars.
The Tu-160 bomber can be called the real pride of Russian military aviation. Today, the White Swan is the heaviest and largest combat aircraft in the world. Each Tu-160 has its own name. They are named after famous pilots, heroes, aircraft designers or athletes.
At the beginning of 2015, Sergei Shoigu announced plans to resume production of the Tu-160 aircraft. It is planned that the first vehicle will be transferred to the Russian Aerospace Forces in the next decade. Today, the Russian military space forces include 16 Tu-160s.
History of creation
In the 60s of the last century, the Soviet Union actively invested in the creation of intercontinental ballistic missiles, paying virtually no attention to strategic aviation. The result of this policy was that the USSR noticeably lagged behind its potential enemy: by the early 70s, the Soviet Air Force was armed only with outdated Tu-95 and M-4 aircraft, which had virtually no chance of overcoming a serious air defense system.
Around the same time, work was in full swing in the United States on the creation of a new strategic bomber (AMSA project). Not wanting to concede to the West in anything, the USSR decided to create a similar machine. The corresponding resolution of the Council of Ministers was published in 1967.
The military put forward very stringent requirements for the future vehicle:
- The aircraft's flight range at an altitude of 18 thousand meters and at a speed of 2.2-2.5 thousand km/h should have been 11-13 thousand km;
- The bomber had to be able to approach the target at subsonic speed, and then overcome the enemy's air defense line at cruising speed close to the ground or at high altitude at supersonic speed;
- The bomber's flight range in subsonic mode was supposed to be 11-13 thousand km near the ground and 16-18 thousand km at high altitude;
- The combat load weight is about 45 tons.
Initially, the Myasishchev Design Bureau and the Sukhoi Design Bureau took part in the development of the new bomber. Tupolev's design bureau was not involved in the project. Most often, the reason for this is said to be the excessive workload of Tupolev’s team, but there is another version: at that time, the relationship between Andrei Tupolev and the country’s top leadership was not in the best way, so his design bureau was in a certain disgrace. One way or another, the Tupolevs did not initially take part in the development of the new machine.
The Sukhoi Design Bureau presented the commission with a preliminary design of the T-4MS aircraft (“product 200”). In the course of work on this machine, the designers used the huge reserve obtained in the process of creating the unique T-4 aircraft (“product 100”). Many options for the layout of the future bomber were worked out, but in the end the designers settled on the “flying wing” design. To achieve the performance characteristics required by the customer, the wing had a variable sweep (rotating consoles).
Having carefully studied the military's requirements for a future attack aircraft and conducted numerous studies, the Myasishchev Design Bureau also came up with a variant of the aircraft with variable wing geometry. However, unlike their opponents, the bureau's designers proposed using a traditional aircraft layout. Since 1968, the Myasishchev Design Bureau has been working on the creation of a multi-mode heavy missile-carrying aircraft (“topic 20”), designed to solve three different tasks. Accordingly, three modifications of the machine were developed.
The first version was conceived as an aircraft for launching nuclear strikes on enemy strategic targets, the second modification was conceived to destroy enemy transoceanic transports, and the third - to detect and destroy strategic submarines in remote areas of the World Ocean.
Having experience working on “topic 20” behind them, the designers of the Myasishchev Design Bureau “issued” a project for the M-18 heavy bomber. The layout of this aircraft largely repeated the outlines of the American B-1 and, perhaps, that is why it was considered the most promising.
In 1969, the military put forward new requirements for a promising aircraft, and only from that moment did the Tupolev Design Bureau (MMZ “Experience”) join the project. The Tupolev team had significant experience in developing heavy supersonic aircraft; it was in this design bureau that the Tu-144 was created - the beauty and pride of Soviet passenger aviation. Previously, Tu-22 and Tu-22M bombers were built here. The Tupolev Design Bureau joined the development of a promising jet bomber back in the late 60s, but initially their project was considered out of competition. The Tupolev team developed the future bomber on the basis of the passenger Tu-144.
In 1972, a presentation of projects took place; three design bureaus took part in it: Myasishchev, Sukhoi and Tupolev. Sukhoi’s plane was rejected almost immediately – the idea of using a “flying wing” as a supersonic strategic bomber looked too unusual and futuristic in those years. The receivers liked the Myasishchevsky M-18 much more; moreover, it almost completely corresponded to the characteristics declared by the military. The Tupolev vehicle did not receive support “due to non-compliance with specified requirements.”
In numerous materials and publications dedicated to this truly historic competition, employees of the Myasishchev Design Bureau invariably call themselves the official winners. However, the truth is that the commission did not call it that, limiting itself to only some recommendations on the further continuation of work. Based on them, appropriate conclusions were drawn, and soon a resolution of the country's Council of Ministers appeared, which prescribed that the bomber project would be completed at the Tupolev Design Bureau. The fact was that Myasishchev’s design bureau at that time simply did not have the necessary scientific and production base to complete the work. In addition, the significant experience that the Tupolev team had in creating heavy supersonic aircraft was taken into account. One way or another, all the developments made by the competitors earlier were transferred to the Tupolev Design Bureau.
After 1972, work began on fine-tuning the future Tu-160: the design of the aircraft was worked out, new solutions for the machine’s power plant were searched for, optimal materials were selected, and on-board equipment systems were created. The project was so complex and large-scale that it was under the control of the Minister of Aviation Industry, and his deputies coordinated the work. More than 800 Soviet enterprises were involved in its implementation to one degree or another.
The first flight of the prototype took place on December 18, 1981, on the eve of the anniversary of Soviet Secretary General Brezhnev. In total, three aircraft were built at MMZ “Experience” for testing. The second prototype took off only in 1984. American space reconnaissance almost immediately “detected” the start of testing of the new Soviet bomber and monitored the progress of the tests continuously. The future missile carrier received the NATO designation RAM-P, and later its own name - Blackjack. Soon the first photos of the Soviet “strategist” appeared in the Western press.
In 1984, serial production of the White Swans was launched at the Kazan Aviation Plant. On October 10, 1984, the first production aircraft took off. The following year, the second and third aircraft took off, and in 1986, the fourth. Until 1992, 35 Tu-160 aircraft were manufactured.
Production and operation
The first two Tu-160s were transferred to the Soviet Air Force in 1987.
In 1992, Russia was going through difficult times of economic crisis. There was no money in the budget, but a lot of it was needed to produce the Tu-160. Therefore, the first Russian President Boris Yeltsin proposed that the United States stop producing White Swans if the Americans abandoned the production of the B-2.
At the time of the collapse of the USSR, 19 Tu-160s were on the territory of the Ukrainian SSR (Pryluki). Independent Ukraine, which renounced nuclear weapons, had absolutely no need for these planes. At the end of the 90s, eight Ukrainian Tu-160 bombers were transferred to Russia to pay off the energy debt, and the rest were sawn into metal.
In 2002, the Russian Ministry of Defense entered into a contract with KAPO to modernize all bombers in service.
In 2003, one of the Tu-160s crashed in the Saratov region, killing the crew.
During an exercise that took place in 2006, a group of Tu-160s were able to enter US airspace undetected. Later, the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Long-Range Aviation, Khvorov, told reporters about this, but there was no further confirmation of this fact.
In 2006, the first modernized Tu-160 was adopted by the Russian Air Force. A year later, regular flights of Russian strategic aviation to remote areas began, and “White Swans” took (and still take) part in them.
In 2008, two Tu-160s flew to Venezuela; an airfield in the Murmansk region was used as a jump-off airfield. The flight took 13 hours. On the way back, overnight in-flight refueling was successfully carried out.
At the beginning of 2017, the Russian Aerospace Forces included 16 Tu-160 aircraft. In August 2016, the newest modification of the missile carrier, the Tu-160M, was shown to the public. A little later, the Kazan Aviation Plant reported on the beginning of the revival of the basic technologies that are necessary to resume production of the Tu-160. It is planned to begin by 2023.
Design Features
The Tu-160 bomber is made according to a normal aerodynamic design; it is an integral low-wing aircraft with an all-moving fin and stabilizer. The main “highlight” of the aircraft is its wing with a variable sweep angle, and its center section, together with the fuselage, forms a single integral structure. This allows the most efficient use of internal volumes to accommodate equipment, weapons and fuel. The aircraft has a tricycle landing gear.
For the most part, the aircraft's airframe is made of aluminum alloys, the share of titanium alloys is approximately 20%, and composite materials are also used in the design. Technologically, the airframe consists of six parts.
The central integral part of the vehicle includes the fuselage itself with a cockpit and two cargo compartments, a center section beam, a fixed part of the wing, engine nacelles and the rear fuselage.
The nose of the aircraft houses the radar antenna and other radio equipment, followed by a pressurized flight deck.
The Tu-160 crew consists of four people. Each of them is equipped with a K-36DM ejection seat, which allows them to escape from an emergency aircraft at the entire altitude range. Moreover, to improve performance, these chairs are equipped with special massage pillows. The cabin has a toilet, kitchen and one berth for rest.
Directly behind the cockpit there are two weapons compartments, which contain units for suspending various weapons, as well as equipment for lifting them. There are also mechanisms for controlling the doors. The center section beam runs between the weapons compartments.
Fuel tanks are located in the buoyant and tail sections of the bomber. Their total capacity is 171 thousand liters. Each engine receives fuel from its own tank. The Tu-160 is equipped with an in-flight refueling system.
The low wing of the Tu-160 has a significant aspect ratio and a large root overhang. However, the main feature of an aircraft wing is that it can change its sweep (from 20 to 65 degrees along the leading edge), adapting to a specific flight mode. The wing has a caisson structure; its mechanization includes slats, double-slotted flaps, flaperons and spoilers.
The bomber has a tricycle landing gear, with a steerable front and two main struts.
The vehicle's power plant consists of four NK-32 engines, each of which can develop a thrust of 25 kgf in afterburner mode. This allows the aircraft to reach a maximum speed of 2200 km/h. The engines are located in twin engine nacelles located under the wings of the aircraft. The air intakes have a rectangular cross-section with a vertical wedge and are located under the wing flaps.
Armament
Despite all its external beauty and grace, the Tu-160 is, first of all, a formidable military weapon, which is quite capable of causing a small Armageddon on the other side of the world.
Initially, the White Swan was conceived as a “pure” missile carrier, so the most powerful weapon of the aircraft is the X-55 strategic cruise missiles. Although they have subsonic speed, they fly at extremely low altitudes, bending around the terrain, which makes intercepting them very difficult. The X-55 is capable of delivering a nuclear charge over a distance of 3 thousand km. The Tu-160 can carry up to 12 such missiles.
The X-15 missiles are designed to hit targets at shorter distances. These are hypersonic missiles that, after launch, move along an aeroballistic trajectory, entering the stratosphere (altitude up to 40 km). Each bomber can carry up to 24 such missiles.
The cargo compartments of the Tu-160 can also accept conventional bombs, so the White Swan can also be used as a conventional bomber, although, of course, this is not its main purpose.
In the future, they plan to arm the Tu-160 with promising cruise missiles Kh-555 and Kh-101. They have a long range and can be used to hit both strategic and tactical targets.
Comparison of Tu-160 and V-1
The Tu-160 is the Soviet response to the American creation of the B-1 Lancer bomber. We really like to compare these two aircraft, because the Soviet “strategist” is significantly superior to the American in almost all the main characteristics.
Let's start with the fact that the White Swan is significantly larger than its opponent: the wingspan of the B-1B is 41 meters, and that of the Tu-160 is more than 55 meters. The maximum take-off weight of the Soviet bomber was 275 thousand kg, and the American one was 216 thousand kg. Accordingly, the combat load of the Tu-160 is 45 tons, and that of the B-1B is only 34 tons. And the flight range of the Soviet “strategist” is almost one and a half times higher.
The White Swan can reach a speed of 2,200 km/h, which allows it to confidently evade fighters; the maximum speed of the B-1B does not exceed 1,500 km/h.
However, when comparing the characteristics of these two aircraft, one should not forget that the B-1 was originally conceived as simply a long-range bomber, and the Tu-160 was designed as a strategic bomber and “aircraft carrier killer.” In the USA, this role is mainly performed by missile-carrying submarines, and they do not need to destroy enemy aircraft-carrying groups due to the complete absence of them.
In mid-January 2018, the Tu-160M supersonic strategic missile-carrying bomber with serial number 0804 began flight tests for the first time, and already on the 25th, the aircraft, named after the first commander-in-chief of the Russian Air Force, Pyotr Deinekin, was demonstrated to the president. Why does Russia need a Soviet plane and what future is being prepared for it?
Yesterday
The Tu-160 is considered the largest and heaviest supersonic aircraft in the world. According to open data, the maximum speed of the vehicle is 2,230 kilometers per hour, flight range is 13,900 kilometers, altitude is 22 kilometers, wingspan is up to 56 meters. The Tu-160, capable of carrying up to 40 tons of weapons, was the Soviet answer to the American B-1 Lancer. The purpose and basic characteristics of both aircraft are comparable to each other.
The first flight of the B-1 Lancer took place in 1974, while the Blackjack (as the Americans called the Tu-160) flew only in 1981. The Soviet vehicle was created by the Tupolev Design Bureau, which received part of the documentation for the competing M-18/20 projects of the Myasishchev Design Bureau and T-4MS.
The aerodynamic design of the Tu-160 is reminiscent of the supersonic Tu-22M, which also uses a variable sweep wing in flight; in addition, the new machine, like the Tu-144, the world's first supersonic passenger aircraft, received an integral layout in which the fuselage actually acts as a continuation of the wing and thus most provides an increase in lifting force.
Although the Tupolev Design Bureau conceptually used its own developments when creating the Tu-160, practically the machine was developed from scratch. The new product became a serious challenge for the Soviet aviation industry, to which it found an answer that has not lost its relevance to this day.
In just three years, the Kuibyshev Design Bureau Kuznetsov created the NK-32 engine for the Tu-160; on its basis, it is planned to develop (instead of the Ukrainian D-18T) units for the An-124 Ruslan military transport aircraft and the Russian strategic bomber-missile carrier being developed. generation PAK DA (Advanced Long-Range Aviation Complex).
The Tu-160, which does not have static stability (the position of the machine’s center of mass changes as fuel is consumed and weapons are dropped), became the first Soviet serial heavy aircraft equipped with a fly-by-wire control system (for the first time in the world, such a scheme was developed in the 1930s by the same Tupolev Design Bureau passenger aircraft ANT-20 "").
The Tu-160 also received a new on-board defense system “Baikal”, which allows you to track, jam or distract enemy air defense systems with false targets, and elements to reduce the radar and infrared visibility of the aircraft.
Serial production of the Tu-160 was launched at Gorbunov, which previously produced Tu-4, Tu-22 and Tu-22M. Assembling a new machine required the construction of not only additional workshops, but also the introduction of new technologies. In particular, the company introduced electron beam welding on titanium, from which the center section of the aircraft was created. This technology, lost by the plant ten years ago, has now been restored.
In total, 36 Tu-160s were built by 1992, at the same time at the Gorbunov plant there were four more vehicles in varying degrees of readiness. In 1999, the 37th aircraft flew, and in 2007, the 38th. "Peter Deinekin" became the 39th Tu-160. Today Russia has 17 operational aircraft, at least nine Tu-160s have been cut by Ukraine. The remaining 11 were given to museums, were used for tests, or were in emergency situations.
Today
The Tu-160s available to Russia will undergo modernization. In particular, the aircraft will receive new NK-32 engines of the second series, avionics and on-board defense systems, as well as longer-range and more powerful strategic missiles (already in the Tu-160M2 modification). These innovations, which make it possible to increase the efficiency of Blackjack by 60 percent, will be tested on the Tu-160M “Peter Deinekin”, which so far differs only slightly from the Tu-160 model.
To date, Blackjack has taken part in hostilities only during the operation in Syria, where it struck positions (a terrorist organization banned in Russia) with X-555 cruise missiles (flight range up to 2,500 kilometers) and X-101 (hits targets at a distance up to 7,500 kilometers).
It looks like Blackjack is headed for a revival. In addition to upgrading existing aircraft to the Tu-160M2 version, the Russian military expects to receive ten more such aircraft from the Kazan Gorbunov Aviation Plant, the contract value is 160 billion rubles. In this case, by the mid-2020s, the Russian Aerospace Forces will have 27 Tu-160M2 at its disposal.
Tomorrow
The developments and technologies used in the modernization of Blackjack are planned to be used in the creation of new aircraft. It is from the Tu-160M2 that the new generation strategic bomber-missile carrier PAK DA (Advanced Aviation Complex for Long-Range Aviation) will receive an engine, avionics elements and an on-board defense system. Unlike the Tu-160, the PAK DA being developed will be a subsonic aircraft, since it initially relies on the use of high-precision weapons.